The central city of Da Nang aims to increase its health insurance coverage to 100 per cent by 2020, according to the local Social Insurance Agency.

By June 2017, Da Nang had about 993,444 people, 96.5 per cent of its population, in the health insurance scheme, said the agency.

Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

This outcome was attributed to efforts from the city’s political system at all levels, said Le Anh Nhan, Deputy Director of the agency.

The municipal Party Committee and administration worked with the local Health Department to launch programmes and measures to expand the number of participants, he added.

Communications were implemented under various forms, targeting groups with low health insurance coverage rate such as students, workers in private sectors and households, aiming to popularise the rights of health insurance card holders, the director noted.

The healthcare system in Da Nang has developed due to local healthcare facilities investing in infrastructure and modern technologies.

They have also applied science initiatives to provide effective treatment to patients while the health insurance policy has been expanded with more benefits to participants.

The Party and State always pay attention to protecting and caring for public heath, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at an event co-hosted by the Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) and the Health Ministry in Hanoi on June 30^th to mark Vietnam Health Insurance Day (July 1^st), citing the issuance of a range of relevant policies and guidelines aiming to help the public overcome risks and cut medical costs.

However, the PM pointed out the fact that there remained almost 20 million Vietnamese people who have yet to be covered by health insurance, many of them are from disadvantaged groups or meet difficulties in the daily life.

VSI General Director Nguyen Thi Minh reported that more than 76 million Vietnamese people have to date participated in health insurance and about 75 million time-people benefited from the Health Insurance Fund in the first half of this year./.

VNF/VNA